Bad service

The story: Our ejector pump broke (ejector pump is similar to a sump pump, but pumps out wastewater to the city sewer instead of storm water to the yard) in our new house. I called HWA. I was told I'd get a call from a plumber at 9am the next day. I didn't. I called again at 11am. I was told the plumber would call that afternoon. I called him. He didn't know what I was talking about, b/c he was closed on Sunday. He only comes out for emergencies on Sundays, and this was not classified an emergency. (What if it rained and our basement flooded? Not sure.)

The plumber did come out Monday morning. He notices it's an "ejector pump" (by function, not by pump, the installed pump is a sump pump). He calls HWA. They say it's not covered (nice home warranty, it doesn't cover the basic elements of the house). Problem is, we had to pay the plumber $100 before he would set foot in the house.

I call HWA to discuss. They say they'll listen to the first call I made, and if I said "sump pump", they are not at fault. A manager will listen to the call and the cust. service rep. will call me back. I request that the person who listens to the call be the one who calls me back. They reluctantly agree. They say it will be 24-48 hours.

Six days later I get the call back. After talking to the manager, it is explained to me that HWA's policy is to make NO attempt to clarify the problem over the phone, even if it is easily discernible between a problem that is covered and one that is not covered. The reason is because some people don't know how to tell the difference between pumps. I suggest that asking the question is easy, and a warning that if the pump is not a "sump" pump, informing the caller that they may be paying $100 for no reason would be appreciated. HWA makes no admittance and stands by their policy.

I said I understand your policy and I disagree with it and I would like to cancel my policy. They offered a prorated refund with a $30 cancellation fee.

Overall poor handling of a request. A simple question would have saved us the $100 payment. It's just bad business.

Comments

On Friday, November 23, 2007 the local gas company was forced to shut off my heating unit because it was emitting carbon monoxide into the home. I called HWA immediately to finally use the service that we had been paying for approximately two-three years. Despite the fact that I have an asthmatic child in the home and it was going to be 40 degrees that night (yes Texas does get cold) I was first told by the emergency help person that the fact that I didn’t have heat was not considered an emergency under their guidelines. So he put the order in as a regular order and gave me the number to the local contractor HWA would dispatch.

I called the local contractor right after I hung up and someone was sent out the next morning (Saturday, November 24th). The verdict: the heating unit is cracked and needs to be replaced. We had to spend the Thanksgiving holiday weekend (including guests from out of town) in the cold as we couldn't afford to send everyone to a hotel for 4 days.

To make matters worse I was informed by a rude, nasty, non-customer service floor supervisor, Mr. Brayden Wright, that parts needed for the unit to run is considered a “modification” under your guidelines and we would have to pay the difference ($550). I explained to Mr. Wright that the contract stated: inclusions included all components and parts necessary for the operation of the system. I was put on hold three different times so they (he and the customer service rep) could find another clause or should I say loop hole to keep from paying the $550. Mr. Brayden determined that because the current parts (return plenum and transition) did not need to be replaced because of normal wear and tear it would be considered a “modification” since they didn’t fit the new unit.

It doesn’t get any better. Monday, November 26, 2007 I called to speak with Mr. Wright’s manager, Michelle Claxton and she was equally as nasty. In fact, she informed me that HWA wouldn’t pay for anything and wouldn’t submit the order until I agreed to pay the $550. Deception and strong-arm tactics. Wow, whatever happened to customer service. What else could we do since we’re still sitting in a house with no heat.

I agreed to pay the $550 and then reported them to the Texas Real Estate Commission.

I’ve heard horror stories over the years of people getting the run around when it’s finally time to pay from warranty companies, but I never thought I would experience it.

After my phone call to the TREC and a long letter to the company President, an agreement was made between HWA and the contractor and we paid an acceptable portion of the $550. No one should have to go through this type of customer service.

Home warrant of america is a joke. i recently was added as a vendor/ heating and cooling contractor. and ive never had to deal with such rude, unprofessional, mean and ignorant people in may 10 years working in this trade, and ive had to deal with all kinds. they do anything they can to not pay even lie. Ive been arguing with them trying to get paid for the only 2 service calls ive done for them with no luck. ive asked to speak with supervisors and they tell me they are the supervisor and refuse to transfer me to anyone else - they must all be supervisors. Ive called the "vendor development manager" several times but he never-NEVER answers his phone or returns calls (im starting to wonder if he really exists). I am not exagerating and i truly cannot believe the way this company handles themselves and their business. If your a contractor, run like hell from these people. How do they get away with this?

Unfortunately my daughter purchased a HWA contract when she purchased her home. Home Warranty of America is worse than a bad joke; they are nothing short of an organization conspiring to defraud unsuspecting victims all across the US. A washing machine covered under the warranty stopped functioning properly. A service technician who is a contractor with HWA came out and inspected the machine and found the transmission and clutch assembly to be in need or replacement. He stated in his report to HWA that the parts needed replacement due to "Normal Wear & Tear". When HWA was contacted they said the claim would not be honored because the malfunction was due to "rust & corrosion". No where in his report did the technician state the parts needed replacing due to rust & corrosion; in fact, he specifically stated there was NO rust or corrosion and reiterated it was normal wear & tear. HWA stands by their decision that despite the technician's report and the fact that they never saw the parts, the parts had to be the victim of rust & corrosion and there could be no other reason for the parts to go bad.

I hope anyone reading this who has had a similar problem with HWA reports them to the Attorney General of your state. The people who run that company need to be stopped from doing further business anywhere in the US before more unsuspecting consumers are taken advantage of.

I am a contractor with HWA in the heating and A/c slash appliance repair business. I have been with them for two years now and I have seen and heard all these same complaints. I have tried to report dishonest vendors in the network and been shit on by the magement for being a snitch, I take great pride in my work and in my honesty as a person. I have seen claim after claim denied and customers forced to pay basically what the repair would cost if they didnt have a home warranty at all. All it ever really costs is about a hundred bucks anyway usually to fix a small appliance problem. And I never had a problem getting paid up untill about ninety days ago and Ive been owed over a thousand dollars pretty consistently now for months which they piss trickle me 100 or so every month. I am just about at the end of my rope with these people. The vendor relations people dont answer my calls and this girl michelle that works in authorizations is a real mean spirited bitch. If i dont get my Money soon I may be contacting a lawyer.

We are also an HVAC contractor with HWA in Illinois, and they are horrible at best. You can be on hold for an average of 20 minutes before you finally get someone who after putting you on hold again will give you an authorization number (on the rare occasion they authorize a repair) for an amount that they never end up paying the amount authorized! Good luck dealing with Howard Pinto, or Arthur- they find every reason not to pay what was authorized. I truely feel sorry for the customers who have policies with HWA, and our company has tried to work with thier frustration with HWA. We take great pride in keeping our customers happy, so it pains us to hears how HWA keep screwing these people. I agree with the previous HVAC contractor- run in the opposite direction of HWA!!!

In the past 2 years I had two calls for service with HWOA. The calls were handled promptly. 1 Washing machine was replaced. 2 Garbage Disposal leaked and was replaced. However on 9-4-09 I needed the Air Conditioner repaired. My renter in Las Vegas in her late sixties with heart problems needed them fast. Repairman came and noted the compressor was beyond repair and need replacing. Order went in late (Friday) 9-5-08. Compressor was not ordered until Monday 9-8-08. Many calls made to Home Warranty with many promises that a supervisor would call right back. My renter lived in a Condo in 100 degrees + heat. The excuse was that the unit had to be ordered. The repair/service man waited patiently. The A/c was not repaired until 9-9-08 late in the evening. My problem is that communications are lousy with this firm and they ignore incoming calls. I am very dissappointed and am not sure I want to renew my policy for year 3. They definitely need supervisors that can handle dire situations such as mine.

Home Warranty of American (HWA) is getting increasingly unprofessional. We got a pipe linking to the Jacuzzi tube broken, and HWA simply denied the service stating that "it was not properly installed". C'mon, this is after 12 years we used that? Follow this logic, which broken part of their coverage is not due to "not properly installed"? I had another incidence that the service guy left a big chuck of replaced parts in my yards. After calling around more than 20+ times, they informed us the warranty does not cover the disposal, and we are quoted by EPA law to pay another $120 to dispose these parts "properly". Don't waste your money, don’t buy HWA.

HWA Sucks I'm a hvac/appliance contractor. These guys never do what they say they are going to do they tell you one thing then do something completely different. Example they call one day @ 4:30 in jan 09 emergency no heat in cary il please go out so we do and discover the customer needs new furnace so we drive to libertyville to pick up furnace stay at customers house and install furnace now i have to pay my techs overtime by the way its a friday. We are there till like 11:00after 1 1/2 hr drive to get furnace. Which they authorized to replace and pick up now its april 1st and who's the fool us why you ask because we have yet to get paid. Yeah they authorized me to get ripped off by them call them and you get the run around, Howard Pinto he says he will look into it and we haven't submitted invoice thats what arthur said two months ago, but by now we have submitted at least 4 invoices and every month we wait for the check to arrive but never does, and I could go on and on all day and the other invoice/authorized calls. But I will stop doing all work for these people and my Lawyer is calling them today!!!

Run from them!! I went for an interview and my new job was to call contractors, after they were given the go ahead from HWA, and chisel down the bill(a month later). I was told I was to make 25-30 calls a day to contractors and refuse to pay a total of $400-500 a day. That was going to be the job!!?? I said after doing this to a contractor maybe they won't over charge (if they even did it in the first place). The interviewer looked at me like I had three heads. He said all our contractors over charge us.???

I agree, where do they get these contractor from?
I currently have been living with a broken sink (pipes underneath leaking) for three days now?
The contractor never calls nor makes the scheduled appointments?

I called NWA three times yesterday and they told me the same thing; The contractor is coming - I just spoke to the owner, etc. I can't believe this company is in business and again, where are these contractors coming from? My sink is still broken and guess what - THE CONTRACTOR IS ON HIS WAY? You would thing they would try and find someone else to do the work after this performance, but no, I have to wait for Carlos?
This sucks!

HWA is a complete waste of money. I had a fridge break, called them; after 2 weeks a guy comes and says he needs to order parts. After another week of the run around I had to buy a new fridge. (I have 2 small children and could not be with out one!!) When they learned that I had moved the original fridge to the garage in order to put the new one in, they said it was not longer covered and cancelled my claim. Not only am I out the money I paid them, I am out the $75 service call for the first service.

Worst Customer Service Ever!!! The AC Contractor they sent out was not in a company vehicle / uniform etc. He had all his "equipment" stashed into the back & trunk of his 4-door nearly-broken-down sedan. I asked if he was bonded & he said that he "wasn't sure". I called HWA and was on hold for an insane amount of time (45 minutes). No one does work on my home unless they are sure that they are bonded.

Had another service call for my oven. That was 55 days ago & still counting toward resolution. I would love to resolve it, but I cannot get a return phone call. The contractor that they sent out had to order parts. 2 weeks later I call to find out when they are going to install the parts & set an apointment. They no-show after I have taken off work. Set another appt for 2 weeks later - 9:00 am Sat morning - "You will be the 1st appt" - they finally show up @ 3:00 PM with the wrong parts!!

I have placed no less that 2 calls a day for the past 7 days w/o a single return call. I have been told that I am on a "Call List" & will be called by EOD - LIARS!

Wish I could get my money back. HWA has caused me more time & trouble then just paying for everything my self.

Read the "Our Values" section on their website & don't believe a word of it.

HWA so CHEAP and MEAN! They can leave their customer without electricity for days just to save a few bucks. They do not get their customers a well qualified service contractors to do the repair because they are considered "expensive". They send cheap labor out to mess things up rather than fixing. I would never buy home warranty from this company again. HWA sucks! They are doing things against their core value posted on their website. All Cheating...

I am an HVAC contractor who has been in business 40 years. I was contacted by HWA to become one of their service contractors. I am a small company and do my own service, so I am able to work for the kind of money they were asking, but the only two service call I went on, one was a 2nd opinion, I haven't been paid. I told them I would do no more calls for them if it is going to take 2 months to get paid. Now they have blocked my access to my online account so I can't check the status of the outstanding bills. They are the rudest, nastiest people it has ever been my misfortune to deal with.

I just bought a house in Manteno, IL and not even living here the 1st day, the garage door breaks. I had to call a company called Murray the next day and have it replaced right away, as it was that bad of shape. Forked out a good $700 on it.

Another incident happened where my dryer isn't heating properly. I assume it is the hose, but being that it is also covered, I would call the home warranty.

I called HWA to see if it is covered, which it states on my packet I got, both garage door and dryer are covered. So I spoke to this lady, and she was really rude. I explained to her my situation, and she said that the insurance only covered the motor and the tractor door of the garage door. The dryer isn't covered because it was already broken. If it was usable and broken after usage, then it would be covered. If it wasn't working the 1st time, it's not covered.

All I have to say is what the hell is wrong with these people. Luckily, I didn't purchase this warranty, the seller of the house agreed to pay for a year worth for us. I'll be sure to not go with this company when the contract expires. Bunch of cheap a-holes.

HWA is a complete waste of time!!! My Heat went out in my house last weekend (I bought the house on 02 Nov 2009). I am in the military, and I am moving to Tenn. by May of 2010. The HWA warrenty was purchased by the seller, so thank GOD I did not waste $500 of my own money on this crap. So, after I purchase the home on 02 Nov 2009, my wife and I stay a week to check out our new neighborhood, and the heat works great. After a week, we go on vacation to Disney, and dont return to the house in Tennesse again till the day after Thanksgiving, and again, the heat works great. Finally we return to the house last weekend, to move some furniture in, and the house is freezing cold!!!. I call HWA, and the lady asks me what is wrong. I say"the heat is not working", and I state "the heat hasn't worked since we started moving in", she then comes back and says that since the heat has never worked, that they are not responsible to cover it. I told her that the heat has worked since we bought the house (02 Nov 2009), but since we started to move in (last weekend), that the heat has since stopped working. She says very rudely that "I am changing my story" and I start to get lectured by her. I ask to speak to a manager, she laughs, and puts me on hold w/ out telling me that she is doing so, and transfer me to a supposed supervisor. I leave a message for a supervisor (don't know the number because the cust. ser. rep transfered me), and I have waited 2 days...still no call from a supervisor. I call back today, and again a different cust serv rep acts very rude, and tells me it has only been 2 days. I tell her that I am in the military and things in the Air Force doesn't even move this slow. I also said that I appreciate the world class customer service that their company exhibits, especially for a military vet. Sometimes I wonder why we peotect certain peoples freedoms.

Agree, waste of time, after spending the money I have spent monthly for this home warranty I needed a faucet repair, only to find out that since their plumbers couldn't fix or find the part they would pay me what they think the part would be worth (yet still be charged with the service fee.) Therefore after two weeks of lots of wasted time, no kitchen faucet, calls and visits, they will be sending me a check in 4-6 weeks for $90, so minus my $75 service fee I am getting a whopping $15 so that I can figure out a way to replace my $500 kitchen faucet. It's a joke. Cancelled my warranty on the spot.

We have several properties and for the last 2, we chose HWA Home Warranty at the realtor’s recomendation. They sent the most incompetent contractors and I found out from them, it’s because they pay peanuts so they send their rookies to work on it and if it’s too hard for them to fix, they just take your $50 and tell you to have HWA send a different trade. For example, we had a home heater issue, they said it was a water heater issue, the water heater guy comes out and says it’s a home heater issue. The other problem is these are low dollar calls for the contractor, meaning low priority calls, so we wasted 4-5 hours with each vendor waiting for them to get there. How many days can you afford to take off work to wait for a guy that will take $50 and not do anything.

So we are out $320 for the policy which we just cancelled, we are out $50 to a hvac company that can’t fix a heater and we are out $420 that we paid a guy that was recomended to fix it. After a lot of calls, I finally got them to agree to give us our $50 back and they explained all the money they will deduct from the $320 we paid them including some bogus $30 fee and prorated, blah, blah. I said fine, setup an arbitration hearing per the agreement, not because I care, but because it will cost them time and money to do it.

We have had great sucess with American Home Shield on 2 other properties we have. The contractors came on time, fixed the problem and it was an overall good experience.

We had Old Republic at our vacation home, another bad one. Guy came out to fix the problem, took his $50, told me he can fix it for $185 because he’s not sure that plumbing fixture leaks are really covered. I went and got the gasket from the hardware store for $2, put in myself in 10 minutes and leak fixed, heck, if I knew, I would have saved $50.

This company will find every excuse to avoid paying for a repair. I filed six repair claims in the past year and they paid for only one of it. Be very careful with what you say when you file a claim as they will find every "key word" that will help them reject your claim. They also use repair companies that help them avoid claims. Recently, a repair guy came to check on my washer which was making a huge noise and shakes the whole house when it spins. He said this washer was in bad shape and could be a costly job. But when his report went back to HWA, it became a washer that's still working, just with some noise. HWA rejected the claim because the washer is functioning and they don't repair noise. So it seems that if any part of my washer can still move and if the whole machine hasn't caught fire, they won't pay for it. And this is just one of the many bad experiences I have had with them. Stay away from this company!!!